Hireling Loot Question

Okay so what would be the most effective way in getting gold material from Hirelings?

Are they

Based off the Hireling passive? (1/3, 3/3)

Based off how many points you have into the proficiency passive? (1/10, 5/10, 10/10)

Based off your current crafting level

or a combination of both?

I've been trying to get 3/3 Hirelings on all my characters but I haven't yet because their crafting is not 50. But I'm not sure if I only need 3/3 (Level 32 Crafting) to get the maximum chance of getting gold material.

As far as my results since BETA and from all the combined knowledge of others.

Material level passive for hirelings only determines what level of base material they return, and only for BS-WW-Cloth, and Potency Rune. There is no Character Level effect or Craft Skill Level effect on hireling returns that I have ever seen.

My hirelings range from Character Level 9 to VR10 and all follow the patterns above. You can FORCE a hireling to deliver whatever level of base material you desire simply by setting the material passive, regardless of their Character Level or Craft Skill Level.

And remember for Potency Runes there are 4 runes per passive level (2 additive, 2 subtractive) until Major and then 2 runes per passive (1 Add, 1 Sub) for Greater and above.

All other material returns are strictly RNG driven.

Note: There have always been thoughts that extraction passives may give better RNG results for Hireling BS-WW-Cloth and Enchanting Gold boosters. But I have not seen recent evidence that the points spent deliver enough larger return since about Patch 1.6, that they can't be skipped unless you don't need those points for other skills/passives.

For Equipment Hirelings, it is their Level that determines the chance to get Golds. I have gotten golds from my L2's, but more so from my L3's, even ones that are attached to characters who have no other points into Eq Crafting.

The only exception to this is Enchanting, you have to be L3 in Hireling and Extraction to get a chance to get Kuta's

Provisioning has no issues, you get Purple mats and Fragments at any level, just more of a chance at higher levels for the Fragments in Writ Rewards.

Note: There have always been thoughts that extraction passives may give better RNG results for Enchanting Gold boosters.

It could have been RNG, but I did notice an increase in Kuta's on Hirelings that have Extraction maxed out recently. It may or may not matter, but I am getting Kuta's at a nice rate and I am not going to upset the apple cart with that.

I will say the best way to get good results from Hirelings is to have a lot of them. While it is an uncommon day that I don't get a Gold Temper or Kuta, I also have 3 to 6 Hirelings in each profession that offers them. If I had to rely on one characters Hirelings, I would probably be frustrated by the whole process.

Note: There have always been thoughts that extraction passives may give better RNG results for Enchanting Gold boosters.

It could have been RNG, but I did notice an increase in Kuta's on Hirelings that have Extraction maxed out recently. It may or may not matter, but I am getting Kuta's at a nice rate and I am not going to upset the apple cart with that.

I will say the best way to get good results from Hirelings is to have a lot of them. While it is an uncommon day that I don't get a Gold Temper or Kuta, I also have 3 to 6 Hirelings in each profession that offers them. If I had to rely on one characters Hirelings, I would probably be frustrated by the whole process.

Yes if you have the extra points to spend might as well hope for better returns, whether we'll ever know if ZOS actually has that coded in or not.